Saturday, July 12, 2008

What Does One Learn in an Anger Management Class?

Anger management is an educational course aimed at teaching skills and helping people change the way they think and to improve behavior. Anger management is not psychotherapy and should not be taken as a substitute for psychotherapy. Anger management classes are typically provided by trained anger management professionals, licensed psychotherapists or a combination.

Quality anger management classes should provide participants with an assessment prior to starting the program. A good program should also use a structured curriculum, such as the one used at AJ Novick Group. Their popular client workbook is called, "Anger Management in the twenty-first Century", and is a 120 page spiral bound book required by each participant of the class.

Anger management classes should cover skills such as:

Teaching empathy and emotional awareness of others
Communication and listening techniques
Improving judgment and impulse control
Stress management
Managing expectations
Forgiveness
Taking time-outs and cool downs
Improving self-talk and internal dialog
Techniques for staying calm in difficult situations

These classes should be taken on a weekly basis and can vary in length from 10 weeks to 52 weeks. Each class should be one to two hours in duration. Quality programs should offer a proof of enrollment form, progress reports and a certificate of completion when the program is finished.

Anger management classes are not just for those with a mandatory requirement, such as for court or probation. Anger management classes are also well suited for those that would like to better improve their ability to manage and control one of life's most complex emotions, anger.

For more information on our anger management classes, please visit our website or contact our office.

Ari Novick, Ph.D., LMFT
AJ Novick Group- Anger Management
Anger Class Online- Online Anger Management Classes